Road Trip!
by AgentOfAngst
Summary: Our Duck boys have their own road trip traditions, but Webby throws a wrench in that. (College ducks) (Two chapters)
1. Change of Itinerary

**Okay, so DuckTales comes back today, and I'm so excited! So I had to come out with one more DuckTales fanfic before everything changes forever, so I decided to dip once more into the college ducks trope that I explored with Twins? But less existential. But I've decided to split it into two parts because I also need to work on homework! College is just a blast, you guys...**

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This was their fourth or fifth road trip since they had gotten old enough to go on road trips. So they had fallen into a set of roles, an order that made complete sense. Huey was sensible and followed the rules so he drove. Dewey was adventurous and talkative so he had the passenger seat and made sure Huey stayed awake and made all the fun stops. He was also in charge of the playlist. Louie had the backseat all to himself, where he could take naps, distribute snacks, and work on the homework that Huey had told him to do earlier, and when they got out of the car and had to talk to people Louie would do the talking. They had their system and their order.

And then, while they were making plans for their next weekend road trip, a wrench got thrown into their well-oiled machine.

"Can I come?" Now Webby was still like their sister and best friend, and they would gladly do anything for her. But Webby had her own friends that she did stuff on the weekends with. They hung out with her and her friends all the time, but they also did stuff that was just the three of them, just like she did stuff with just Lena and Violet without inviting them.

No matter, they couldn't exactly say no to their sister.

"Of course you can come," Dewey said, filling up the silent consideration and glancing conversations with his hastily feigned excitement. He and Webby were as thick as thieves, right? Why wouldn't he want her interrupting, er, joining his trip with his brothers? Louie threw her a thumbs up, currently indifferent, and Huey retooled his road trip itinerary. Huey was the most reluctant to invite Webby along because he was the most married to the system. But he was certain that he could adapt. Good plans, he had learned, should always be able to withstand changes.

Webby coming along was a bigger change than he initially anticipated. To begin with, she packed significantly more stuff than any of them. Huey prided himself in being prepared for anything, but Webby was all the more prepared. The only thing that came close to rivaling Webby's luggage was the completely necessary assortment of snacks they brought along.

"Did you pack up your entire dorm?" Louie snorted, having shoved two hoodies and some underwear into the bottom of his homework-filled backpack and called it a day. This had been done last night, after the 14th time Huey reminded him to pack for the trip. At least he'd beat Dewey, though, who had packed ten minutes ago and was still wrestling with the zipper even as they loaded up the car. The blankets and pillows that created Louie's little nap nook were already in the car.

"Almost," Webby laughed, before looking around and asking, "so where do I sit?"

The brothers looked at each other, realizing they hadn't thought about this, and while Huey frantically tried to fit her into their perfectly ordered system, Louie reached the quickest logical solution.

"You can sit in the back with me for now. We don't stop for food because we have food in the car, so if you have to go to the bathroom let Huey or Dewey know." Webby gave him a thumbs up, Huey let out a sigh of relief, and they set out on their scenic adventure.

The peace didn't last for long. Since it was early on a Friday Louie anticipated napping for the first hour or two, and then working on homework. His back seat buddy had a different plan.

"Let's play the license plate game. See how many places we can spot," Webby suggested.

"There are no other cars on the road this early," Louie pointed out tiredly.

"Oh, well we can play eye spy or twenty questions or I could break out my big book of riddles…" Realizing that Webby was relentless, Louie agreed to a game of twenty questions, which turned into two, three, four, five, six games of twenty questions. Which, for those who are keeping track, is roughly 120 questions. And then Louie got carsick. Horribly, horribly carsick.

"Hey, Dewey, I'm feeling really carsick back here, can we switch?" Now Dewey and Huey could normally both discern between the bullcrap of Louie's frequent illnesses and real ailments, but since solo road trips were still fairly new for the trio, it was possible that Louie was feeling carsick.

"Yeah, we can switch. Drink some water." Louie took small sips, mostly trying to sell his car sickness to Webby. Webby was used to Louie's lies as well, but she had no reason to expect that he was lying. When they switched places, Louie got prepared to enjoy that nap but didn't get the chance to close your eyes.

"You know you have to help keep me awake, right? You can't take a nap." Louie groaned out loud and gave Huey a hateful look. Huey understood the look and sighed.

"Webby can have the next shift up here, let's just figure out the hotel room situation while we're here."

"Well we've known Webby for eight years so there's no reason why she can't share a room with us, but we can't get a King-size like we normally do. What we probably should do is see if we can get a room with two beds and a couch, and then two of us shares, Webby gets a bed, and one of us gets a couch."

"Sounds good. Uh, Louie, Dewey usually picks out some fun touristy stuff to do on the way there, so are you good to do that this time?" Louie pulled another face.

"I have to help plan the worst part of the road trip?" In Louie's opinion, the fun time was car time, and also whatever feature thing they traveled to on Saturday's. Friday's were for kicking back with the boys, eating snacks, and (unfortunately) stopping at gimmicky tourist traps. Now, Louie respected tourist traps a lot, but he didn't like being out-gimmicked by anyone else.

"It doesn't have to be a tourist trap. There are a bunch of natural features and museums we could stop at."

"You mean there are natural features on our way to see a natural feature," Louie said sarcastically.

"Just figure out something."

"Okay, fine. If I find us a stop in the next hour can I switch with Webby when we stop?"

"Yes." So Louie pulled something out of nowhere and worked on homework until they stopped at the world's second-largest butter statue. Dewey loved it. Webby thought it was pretty cool too. Louie took a nap in the backseat after using the bathroom, and Huey felt something in the cosmos of their perfect road trips shift.


	2. Things get worse before they get better

**Oh look I have finally finished Road Trip, something I said I was going to do, all the time since 2020 started and maybe a little bit before. Oh well. We're here now. The Road Trip is OVER. Well, it's about to be you'll read it and see.**

**Should I shout out someone else's fanfic? Absolutely. I just started reading The Baleful Bewitching of Webby Vanderquack by Not Ponytails or Cottontails, a story that is much darker than this one. **

**Enjoy! And please review!**

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"Okay everyone, here's your road trip sandwich. If you want chips or snack cakes you have to use your words." Louie distributed the food, having just recently woken up from his nap. Dewey had complained about Louie being boring and also about still not being able to control the car playlist, but Louie had let him doodle in his math notebook to keep the peace.

Huey absentmindedly began to eat his sandwich.

"Oh, Huey, you should keep two hands on the wheel at all times," Webby said.

"Alright. Do you want to drive after you finish your sandwich?" Huey asked, a little peeved. He was a good driver. A good driver! Webby had no right to correct him when he absolutely knew what he was doing.

"Yeah!" Webby sounded thrilled.

"Oh! Oh! If Webby is driving can I sit in the front?" Dewey asked. He was the only one who hadn't really been bothered by Webby being there. It was fun having someone else with such an adventurous mindset.

"Sure, why not," Huey muttered. At least then half the people in this car would be in the right spot. Huey was annoyed at Webby policing his always incredibly careful driving, but he was also panicking just a little bit. Everything kept getting thrown off. He should have planned for this more. He should have been prepared for changes. But preparing for changes and variables had never been his favorite thing because he preferred to plan for things as they should be. And when they inevitably went wrong, that's when Louie took over the plan.

He slid into the backseat, his brother offering him an extra pillow and blanket.

"Take a nap," Louie advised, "Who knows when you'll be driving again?" Huey wanted to heed his brother's advice, it had been an early morning and sleep would be welcome. Dewey put on his playlist and Huey tried to drift off. But he couldn't. His mind was too busy.

"I can't sleep," he told Louie, a few songs later. Louie was already passed out asleep. He reached out and shook Louie. Louie sighed and woke up.

"What's up?"

"My head is too busy, I can't sleep." Now, Louie realized that this was not at all his problem and that he could if he wanted to go back to sleep. But he didn't, for Huey's sake.

"Right. Well, I got a few hours of sleep, so if you want to do that talking thing I'll listen."

"For free?"

"Yes for free! So little faith in me, Huey."

"You charged me a dollar to talk to you once."

"Time is money, Huey. And we don't dwell on the past at Louie Inc. The past is detrimental."

"Because of time travel?" Huey guessed.

"Listen, I'm not going to talk to you if you just bring up my past schemes."

"Right, okay. What do you want to talk about?" Louie leaned back and quickly ran through the list of things that he enjoyed talking about. But he was a relatively private person, so he didn't really know.

"Whatever you want to talk about," Louie finally muttered. He was the king of small talk, but that was insincere and unimportant and Huey couldn't be fooled by it anymore. For the most part, Louie couldn't fool Huey as much anymore, not with his schemes. He could fool him, could fool anyone with his act though. The "I'm okay," act. He had only eaten half of his sandwich, but Huey had been up front and didn't notice, and Dewey had assumed that Louie was going to finish the sandwich, so they were none the wiser.

"Uh, school, I guess?" This shouldn't have come as a surprise. Huey almost exclusively talked about school.

"Okay, how are classes?" Huey was a double major in Business and Applied Science. Louie was also a Business major, so they shared several classes and worked on homework together.

"They're going pretty good. My chemistry teacher is a real piece of work though…"

"Oh, that sucks." Louie squirmed before blurting, "This isn't working, Huey. Small talk just feels suffocating. I'm not blind I can see that something is wrong with you right now, so vent already, before we both explode."

"Can I have a piece of paper?"

"Gosh! Yes! Take every piece of paper I was never gonna understand algebra anyway!"

"I could help you-"

"Huey, write down your problems right now."

"Fine." Their small talk and their argument went unnoticed by the front seat, as they were blasting Party in the USA, both singing along, obviously.

Huey wrote: I'm really stressed about having Webby along. I love her, but she throws off our groove. And I feel terrible for thinking that.

Louie read it over twice and nodded.

"I get that." He jotted something down: We just have to go with the flow and accept changes as they come.

Huey responded: I hate that. And Louie just smiled sadly and nodded.

"Alright, lady and gentlemen! We are pulling up to our hotel for the night. Remember, Louie does the talking. He's our secret weapon, he always gets us great rooms."

"Dewey, if you hype me up I'm bound to disappoint you."

"Nah. You couldn't. You're good at this." Dewey was so sincere, complimenting without hesitation, Louie felt almost nervous doing what he did best. As it turned out, he had good reason to be nervous. As he explained their needs, he felt way too many eyes on him.

"We can't get you a room with two beds and a couch. Is a fold-up cot okay?"

"Yes." Sometimes he sweet-talked his way into upgrades but he was honestly satisfied with the bare minimum. Webby had complicated their road trip groove, so he would take what they could get.

"Is that the best you can do? Louie, I thought you could get us a better room-" Louie frantically spun around, almost glaring at Webby.

"Webbigail," he said, teeth clenched, "this is the best we can do." He turned, smiling at the clerk, "Thank you so much for being accommodating."

"Right." The clerk looked uncomfortable, maybe a bit annoyed.

"Is there breakfast in the morning?" Louie asked.

"I don't know. Maybe. The cot will be delivered to your room. Here are your keys." He gave them three keys. One for each of them, except for Webby. Louie gave her his.

"That guy was really rude to you," Webby whispered when they were on the elevator. Louie just sighed.

They made Dewey take the cot because he was the only one who hadn't had his road trip thrown off its groove. Dewey didn't mind sleeping on the cot, it was better than sleeping with Louie, who was an unconscious-cuddler. Louie woke up with his head buried into Huey's shoulder. It was still dark outside, but someone had turned on the light.

"Morning, boys," Webby said with a grin, hair wet from a shower, dressed and ready to hit the road.

"What time is it?" Louie groaned, rolling away from Huey before Huey could notice that they'd been snuggling. Huey had definitely noticed, he just didn't care.

"5," Webby said brightly.

"Why in the world, in any world in any universe would we wake up at five in the morning on a Saturday?!" Louie said, more than a bit annoyed.

"So we can get to the waterfall faster. That's where we're going, right? On a hike to a waterfall?"

"Yeah but the waterfall is going to be there all day!" Louie was grouchy. She'd kept him up in the car early yesterday morning and now she was getting him up even earlier on a Saturday? He'd managed to let everything else fly but this, this! This was a serious offense.

"Louie, it's okay," Huey said blearily, rubbing his eyes. He wasn't any happier about this than Louie was but it was his turn to fake it until they could make it.

"It's early," Louie whined.

"I know, you can sleep in the car. Dewey and Webby will take the front again and we can sleep in the back. Where's Dewey?"

"Dewey went to raid the vending machine."

"Great. Of course. Makes sense." Louie grumbled, getting up and getting ready. Soon they were back on the road but Louie was having a hard time getting back in the spirit. He passed a note to Huey before passing out asleep. Huey sighed as he read what Louie wrote: This road trip isn't even worth it anymore.

Huey was inclined to agree, but he was still holding out hope that things would get better. He just didn't know when.

Apparently, things were supposed to get better after they had listened to Hamilton, twice, and were finally pulling up to the parking lot near the hiking trail. Louie was roused from his slumber and they headed up the trail. Louie was feeling much better having gotten a nap, a snack, and a can of Pep. Plus it was a gorgeous day, sunny with a bit of a breeze to keep them cool. Being outside was agreeable, and no one felt on the cusp of an argument.

At one point, Webby fell back and walked with Louie.

"Hey, Webs, I'm sorry I got mad at you for getting us up early. That was out of line, you were just excited about the trip."

"It's okay. I should've asked you, you know, what time you guys were okay with getting up at. I should've asked you a lot of things." She was holding something back, but he didn't press her. Huey didn't have the same guts to apologize. He hadn't actually snapped at Webby. To apologize for things he hadn't said seemed dangerous- like it would jeopardize their whole friendship. So he didn't say much of anything until they arrived at the waterfall.

It was as breathtaking as they'd imagined. They weren't going on regular adventures with their family right now, so it was nice now and then to see something like that.

"Do you guys want to go swimming?" Webby asked.

"Oh, we didn't pack swim trunks," Huey said, though the water was inviting.

"I figured you might not, so I got you some. As a kind of thank you, for letting me come along. I know it was probably really hard fitting me into your traditions, but you've always tried and I really appreciate that about you guys."

Huey felt a lump in his throat.

"Webby," he started, "you belong in these traditions. I'm so sorry that we didn't include you sooner. Maybe it'll be hard, sometimes, to break from what we're used to, but I really want to keep finding a new normal with you."

"I second that," Louie agreed, taking the swim trunks that Webby offered, "you're definitely coming on the next road trip."


End file.
